When inmates escape from prison, mobilizing thousands of people to track down the escapees costs money, and Mohave County, apparently, doesn't want to pick up the tab for its part in fixing the prison's blunder.

You may recall, three inmates escaped from the Kingman Prison last summer, and now, the county has sent its first bill to Management and Training Corporation, the operator of the private prison. The bill is in the amount of $23,587.68 and is to cover the costs of manpower and mileage fees incurred by corrections workers and the Mohave County Sheriff's Office.

The bill covers fees racked up by law enforcement agencies from the time
of the escape to the time of the capture of each inmate.

This first bill only covers the captures of Tracy Province on August 9,
and John McCluskey and his cousin/ fiancee, Casslyn Welch, on August 20.

A bill for the third escapee, Daniel Renwick, won't be issued until he's
brought back to Arizona from Colorado, where he was taken into custody.

An internal report released in September by the Arizona Department of
Corrections found human error and "lax" inmate-monitoring procedures at
the prison were to blame for the escapes.

"The report makes clear Management & Training Corp. employees failed
to follow sound correctional practices," ADC Director Charles L. Ryan
said in a statement released following the report. "ADC failed to
properly monitor the activities at the Kingman private prison and did
not hold the
company's feet to the fire. The escape demonstrated the
department's old monitoring program did not raise critical issues."

The family of an Oklahoma couple allegedly murdered by two of the
inmates sent the state of Arizona a bill of sorts, too. Last week they
sent a notice of claim to state officials to the tune of $40 million.